1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a topographical pattern of polymer material on an endless strip.
2. Description of the Related Art
In particular for the production of tissue paper, use is made of screens having decorative topographical patterns. This enables production of tissue paper into which the topographical pattern of the screen is impressed.
The prior art discloses various options for applying the topographical pattern to an endless strip. For example, it is conceivable to apply the topographical pattern by means of a screen printing method or by means of extrusion dies.
Current papermachine fabrics often have widths of 10 meters or more. By contrast, printing screens are generally one meter wide at maximum. Therefore, the printing screens used in screen printing methods generally extend only over part of the width of the endless strip, for which reason the topographical pattern for the known fabrics is generally formed from a plurality of web-shaped pattern sections arranged next to one another. The problem here is that the elements of pattern sections arranged next to one another are frequently sharply offset relative to one another. This offset of the pattern elements of the individual pattern sections damages the vision impression of the tissue paper produced on such papermachine fabrics.
What is needed in the art is a method for producing a topographical pattern of polymer material on an endless strip, in which the pattern elements of pattern sections arranged next to one another are virtually not offset with respect to one another or are not offset at all.